$6,698,587 The total cost of a proposed project to fix the roof at the shared regional high school of Dighton and Rehoboth The Massachusetts School Building Authority offered to cover 52 ...

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D-R HIGH SCHOOL ROOF VOTES BY THE NUMBERS

$6,698,587 The total cost of a proposed project to fix the roof at the shared regional high school of Dighton and Rehoboth The Massachusetts School Building Authority offered to cover 52 percent of that cost.

655 The number of voters who voted against the roof project in Rehoboth last week, according to an initial count.

653 The number of voters in Rehoboth who approved the roof project last week, according to an initial count.

54 The number of blanks registered on the roof project by Rehoboth voters last week, according to an initial count.

504 the number of voters in Dighton who supported the high school roof project in a town vote over the weekend.

251 The number of voters in Dighton who voted against the roof project over the weekend.

62 The number of blanks registered on the roof vote in Dighton over the weekend.

REHOBOTH — After the measure was defeated by just two votes, the Dighton-Rehoboth Regional School Committee said it plans to deliver petitions to the Rehoboth town clerk on Wednesday to call for a recount of last week’s vote on a proposed school roof repair project.

“The petitions have been signed and notarized and will be deliver to the town clerk on Wednesday,” said Ray Medeiros, chairman of the school committee.

In order to trigger a recount, the school committee was required to gather 10 signed petitions from voters for each of the town’s three precincts and deliver them by 5 p.m. on Thursday, the 10th day after the April 7 election, according to the Rehoboth town clerk said.

The ballot question asked the town to approve a $6,698,587 project to fix the roof at the shared regional high school of Dighton and Rehoboth, with 52 percent of the project costs to be covered by a Massachusetts School Building Authority program. Based on initial results, the ballot question lost by just two votes, with 655 people who voted against it, 653 who voted for it and 54 blanks that were registered.

The vote against the roof project came after a problem with town assessments came to light in January, showing that Dighton was paying $1 million more annually than it should have.

In its own town election, Dighton approved the high school roof repair project on Saturday, with 504 voters supporting the measure, 251 voting to disapprove it and 62 blanks, according to the Dighton Town Clerk’s Office.

But without a majority of Rehoboth voters also supporting the project, the school district will have to start at square one by applying again to the MSBA program, according to the agency’s policy on failed votes to approve projects that it decides to fund. It was initially announced last summer that the proposed Dighton-Rehoboth Regional High School roof project was accepted by the MSBA for its accelerated repair program.

According to the state’s recount procedures, after the Rehoboth Town Clerk receives the recount petition on Wednesday, the town’s registrars must set the recount time and place and give at least three days written notice to the school committee. The state’s rules state that the town “shall schedule the recount to be held … within 10 days of the filing deadline for an election recount petition,” or 10 days from Thursday.

Rehoboth Town Clerk Laura Schwall said that, “We will be guided through the process with town counsel.”